Louisiana Senate rejects House budget offer

BATON ROUGE - The Senate has rejected the House's initial offer in negotiations over a final version of Louisiana's budget.

Senate Finance Chairman Eric LaFleur, a Ville Platte Democrat, said senators have notified House leaders that they won't accept it.

The proposal, obtained by The Associated Press, is $50 million higher than the House's original proposal. But it would still remove dollars the Senate proposed to spend on health services, colleges, prisons, state police, the child welfare agency and state worker pay raises in the 2017-18 budget year.

In total, the proposal - crafted by House Republican leaders - would remove more than $150 million the Senate proposed to spend.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards also opposes the House offer. Republican Senate President John Alario said the proposal is "too low."